Why the Motivational Industry fails you everytime

How many times have you found yourself reading motivational quotes, watching videos, or reading motivational books to get yourself to accomplish a project you’re having difficulty even starting? I will bet the answer is “more than I can count”. And what always happen? You read those quotes, books, or watch those videos, and you feel great like you can conquer anything. But then as the hour’s pass and days become nights, you slowly creep back into reality and question your motives and if you really can do it. Well, you’re not alone, we all see ourselves doing things that look difficult, and we think that we just need that little push. I equate the motivational industry to drugs, it gives you that high that lasts for however long, and then you fall back to reality feeling worse than before, only to do it again like an addict chasing an escape from reality. No one can motivate you but you and the only way to do that is evaluating your life and where your project falls into it.

For as long as there have been human beings, I will bet motivational speaking was used as a tool to get others to act. Kings would motivate their armies through the speech before battle, Presidents such as Reagan and Obama would motivate to sway opinion, Martin Luther king and other activists would motivate movements such as civil rights and woman’s rights. If you look at how motivation was used throughout history you notice one important point, they motivated large group into one direction. All it take is a great cause or a charismatic character to move emotion of a large group. When a few decide to follow, the rest of the herd is not far behind.

Emotion spreads like wildfire, all it takes is a cause for a small group in a protest to start rioting before the entire protest ends up like the LA riots. The motivational speech becomes the fire starter, and the people keep the flames burning. Emotion feeds emotion, and what begins as a small movement grows into something more.

With that said, motivating an individual is difficult unless it comes from within. In the moment, you feel the passion and words the speaker is conveying, you feel empowered to do something, but after it’s all said and done, there is nothing around you to keep the fire going, because you stop thinking with only your emotion and bring logic and fear into the equation. While passion feeds the fire, logic, and fear put it out like baking soda in a kitchen fire.

So how do you keep that drive and passion fueled? By understanding who you are and what’s most important in your life. At times, you get these great ideas, or you fall for this amazing girl you just met, and it becomes all you can think of. The passion and that burn you feel in your heart make you think this is the most important thing in my life, but it’s not. Your emotions are driving that feeling that nothing else exists. You don’t follow through talking to that girl or working on that great idea because of the internal battle you are having with other aspects of your life.

Example, I have this great idea to start this amazing business and that’s all I can think of at the moment, but as time passes emotion fades and logic and fear start to creep up, I start thinking about the hours sacrificed with my family, friend, or girlfriend. Then I think of the financial impact it would have on me and the career change I would have to follow through with. And when it’s all said and done, that great idea ends up on the back burners, and I explain it off to myself as I was just not motivated enough.

The motivation was there, what wasn’t there was a clear view of how this goal impacts everything else in your life. To truly follow through with anything in life you need to first see how it impacts your life wheel, your life wheel being; Love and relationships, family and friends, career and finance, spirituality, health and wellness, and personal development. Everything we do in life impacts our life wheel to a certain extent, so when we have this life later moment or idea, we need to really evaluate the ripple effect or we will fear the impact before ever acting.

The motivational material has its place, but only when you have a clear view of what you’re truly about. Another person’s trials and tribulations to happiness and success is not your trials and tribulations. It can only be used to affect us in the short term, something that only makes a small ripple in our life for that one moment like getting up for a big gym day. I still do that to this day, before the gym I watch motivational videos to hype me up. The videos inspire me to work hard for those few hours at the gym, it’s not the driving force behind me dedicating myself to my health, that’s me holding health and wellness to a higher degree in my life. So, enjoy them to get your emotions riled up before that big game, the gym, or to land that big sale or marketing deal at work, but don’t ever think they can change you until you’re ready to do that.